Lecture by the Master Beinsa Douno to General Occult Class, given on September 11, 1923, in Sofia

Nature loves only men who have high ideals. She calls them her beloved children and knows them by name. Those who have no ideals are not listed in her book. They are discarded as scrap; they are put into her cellar for faraway days, for faraway times.

And so, at those times when you feel as if no one pays any attention to you, or as if you are abandoned by God, "by Nature," you must know that the mistake is your own, that you lack a high ideal. This is a rule, a law. It cannot be otherwise. Therefore, every one of you can correct his life, his misfortune, you can come out of this forgotten cellar. If one of the most abandoned, "at the bottom of the cellar," some day creates for himself a high ideal, he will start crawling up like a snail and in not too long a time he will find himself up on the surface. And Nature will say: "Here is one of my children who has risen from the dead."

What is death in the world? Death: is the misfortune of the forgotten children, of children with no ideals. Resurrection? - it is the promise to the children of high ideals, who are coming out of the bottom of the cellars of the material world. In order to crawl out of such a cellar you must have will, you must have unprecedented, incomparable faith.

There are some people in the world who say: "I can dress in anything, I eat anything, I eat everything." This is not right. The man who says that he eats everything is a man with a low ideal - he is an all-eating animal. Man must eat only the most carefully chosen foods of nature which give a good effect. That is all! Nature knows every one of you. How does she know you? She puts you under examination everyday. And do you know what excellent tests she conducts? In order to see what is hidden in the folds of your soul, what is hidden in the folds of your mind, of your heart, to see that which you try to hide, to see what, your impulses are and what might come out, of you,Nature grows in her garden the most wonderful trees and decorates them with fruits of various qualities. She lets you into this garden and watches what fruit you will take. If you have a high ideal and if you look out for the most beautiful fruit and take it, she will say to herself: "Here I have a wise child!" And she will note down in her book: "You will become a Man." But if you are too lazy to climb up for the best fruit, she will form another opinion of you. You must get the best fruit of the tree. It might, cost you your life to climb and pick it, but if you climb up and take it, she will say: "This child of mine is brave, it takes the best." But if this child looks up and says: "Who will climb so high!" and looks around to see whether some fruit has not fallen on the ground and if not, reaches out towards the nearest branch to pick one, Nature will say: "This is one of the forgotten children, it will not grow up into a Man."

All take note! She takes into account only your inward longings. She establishes the facts, watches them only and notes down what she sees. Therefore,if she takes down the best note about you, you are the reason for that. And if she chronicles something that is not good the reason, again, is you. She notes neither more nor less. She just enters the facts in her notebook and from these facts she draws her conclusions. Now, which are the conclusions that will influence your lives? They are the choices you have made.

I will give you an example in order to clarify this idea. There was an Egyptian woman named Eltamar. She was the daughter of the poorest peasant in Egypt but was very wise and intelligent, chaste and modest. When she went to school her teacher asked her: " Will you marry or will you remain a virgin?" She answered: "I have only one ideal on earth. I have decided thus: I can marry only the king's son. Whoever comes to ask me, I shall refuse if he is not the king's son. I have just one choice and if I can't have that, I shall remain a virgin." You might say: "What foolishness!" Not so, she has an ideal! "If the king's son asks me I shall marry, if not - I need no marriage! "

How is this great ideal applied in the world? If you would have just one faith, if you would have just one teaching, if you would have just one measure, just one image, if you would have just one heart, if you would have just one mind, if you would have just one soul, one spirit, this spirit must be the son of Truth. Let us take up now a comparison. You go out to meet the sunrise. Do not go to meet it when it has risen four fingers over the horizon. You must meet its first ray. That is the most important. That is the king's son. If you do not see the first, the others are not good. If you do no see it, you have lost the sunrise. You catch just this one, you do not need the others. Take the first ray and bring it home. Some ask: "Did you go to see the sunrise?" I did. I saw how the sun came up. I say: you have not seen the first ray. The others are the last fruits of this great tree. You will not become a Man.

When you go up the mountain do not say: "I drink any kind of water." No, if you find the best spring, from where the purest water bubbles up, you are a man of high ideal. If you do not climb high enough up the mountain and say: "I can drink from this water here too," you have a low ideal. Some of you say: "I can drink from here." No, this shows lack of character.

The pupil of the occult school must differ from all others. If you go up to the spring in spite of the difficulties, you will drink from the source . If you take the purest water, you have already an ideal. If you climb some mountain peak, the same law works. Some say: "I can climb anywhere."No, you will choose the best place of this mountain peak, the most beautiful place, so that it will impress your soul deeply. And when you come down you must carry in your heart, "this peak" as an alive peak. When you read books - the same law applies. Read the books of the most famous writer, of the most notable philosopher, of the most eminent preacher!

If you go to an exhibit, look at the paintings of the most notable artist, not those of a mediocre one, but of the most prominent. The ordinary paintings you can see if you watch the people: how every one eats... when you observe them you will see the ordinary pictures. But when you have a choice you will go and see only one painting.

The foremost one in the world, that is enough. When you choose a friend, observe the same law. Choose the noblest, the wisest, the most intelligent, with the purest of hearts. If a man chooses a wife - the same law works: if a woman chooses a husband - again the same. Do not deviate from this principle! Deviation brings forth the thousands of misfortunes in this world.

Now I speak ideologically, about principles which you must apply daily. Sometimes you may think that your ideal is not the right one. Well, it might not be the best now, but what kind of ideal will you choose next? Let us presume that today you have let the day pass by - you have not seen the first sunray. But tomorrow you might see it. If you meet the sunrise again in the same way, you have again lost the day; but if today you have been excellent, if you have met the first ray - tomorrow you will meet it again. In this way your whole life will be changed.

When we decide to correct our lives, the same law is in effect. If you wish to correct yourself take up your biggest mistake, do not busy yourself with the small ones. Take up that biggest error, hold it up for a day, two, three days, a week,a month, a year, ten years, and at last this error will understand that it has a real man to cope with, and it will say to you: "I surrender, You deserve your new position." There are some pupils who, when they stumble two or three times, when they are thrown down two or three times, say: "We shall not grow up into real men," and they run away from the battlefield. These are people with no ideals.

Why have you been called down to earth? To a feast? No! You have been called so that your character and your mind might be tested. And eating at Nature's table, she observes you, she has eyes and watches how you behave. The forks, the spoons, the napkins - she sees all and from this she concludes what will become of you. If you are invited to a feast and are given a plate out of which others have eaten, do you think you have a high ideal? You will ask me: "What shall we do then?" You will bring your own plate with you. You will ask: "Do you have a clean plate? " - "No, we have not. " "I have my own plate." You will hand it to them and they will serve you food on it. And thus you will eat. Then you will ask: "Has anybody eaten with the spoon you give me?" And you will bring out your own spoon, your own fork, your knife... Do you understand? This is a rule for occult pupils.

You might ask now: "When we are invited to dinner, how shall we apply this?" This is the way I would give a feast for my guests. One day when I invite you to a feast, do you know how I will treat you? I will order ten loaves of well-made bread, well-baked by the best master-baker, the most prominent, the most intelligent, the noblest baker, I will find him, and he will bake the loaves of bread if I want to give a feast. There will be no plates at the table, no forks, no knives, I will put these ten loaves of bread on the table. I will bring out grapes, the best from my vineyards, do you understand, from the best vines. After that - apples, from my best orchards. Then I will take bunches of grapes and put them into your hands. Your hands are your plates. I will break the bread and will hand a piece to each. Thus will I feast you. Do you understand? A hunch of grapes, an apple, a pear and a piece of bread each, and we shall converse sweetly, sweetly... No one will move, no rattle of forks and knives... there will be no noise. And I will give you no napkins. Why? Do you know why? When you dirty your hands, I shall take you to my best fountain and tell you: "Wash yourselves here, then take out your hanker-chief and wipe off the water." This is an ideal of the conscious life. For instance, there are a lot of rich men who are very fastidious toward food, but in respect of morals and mind they have no great ideal. There is rich man, I like him; he is very careful about his bread, his food; but in other respects, "stealing" he is not. I say: "you start well but finish badly. Your ideal on the physical plane is good, but in the spiritual world,no man will come out of you."

Some say: "I can love anyone." No, you speak not the truth I would like one of you to tell me that he can love everybody. Not only just to say it. We must inwardly test love. When you pronounce the word "love" in its full meaning, it has some content. What is the content of love?

In the world we can love only God, nothing more! This is the great Truth! The great truth is here. And the man who starts not with God, will not become a Man. If you think that my words are not true, look over the whole of human history and see if you can find anyone, who having started otherwise has become a Man. All great men, all saints, geniuses, teachers of humanity have been men who have loved only God. Now, some may object: if this is the teaching,we shall forget the people. No, we shall not forget them, we shall give them an ideal. If all people strove toward the first sunray, if all people strove toward the ideal of Divine Love, what then would have been the contemporary world and your contemporary souls? Would they have been so unhealthy? - No.

Well, I shall give an objection to all those that say: "I can love anyone, I love the whole of humanity." I say: well, in order to love everybody you must know man. Therefore, if you love humanity you understand people and if you understand men, you can correct their mistakes. I ask: you have a wife,she is a part of humanity and yet you cannot live with her - Why? You have a son, you do not understand each other. But you must love each other? You have a daughter, you must be on good terms with her. Do you know your daughter? Therefore, your assertion that you can love everyone is untrue. I said to you: you can love man, only if you know him. Your knowledge of man comes from your love towards God. In the fulfillment of the will of God reside the strength of the human soul and your love for God contain the happiness of each one. Thus I judge.

You say: "It is easy for you! But my heart is on fire, I am dying of love." Yes, you are in the love that kills men. This is no love at all, this is death, this is a stench. This is the love of the black light which disintegrates and stinks, which tarnishes and darkens man's soul. Do not believe that what is Sublime in the World of living nature can deceive you on such love!

God has a sublime quality - Hi loves in us the best, The God of Eternal good, loves in us the best. You will find this verse in the Scripture: "He has come to love the truth inside man." The noblest, the purest inside us that God loves. Some want to know whether God is interested in their ordinary life. In your ordinary life thousands of other people might be interested but not God. If I am servant to a great master and around me I have ten other servants to put on my stockings,to clean my shoes, would my master come to put on my stockings? Would that be wise? No, He does not care who will help me put my stockings on. He says: "There are ten other persons who will do that."He does not care who will polish my shoes. Why? There are a lot of shoeshiners, if you give them a few cents they are ready to polish your shoes as you like. Some ask: "Is God satisfied with our shoes today?" Why should God be satisfied with your shoes? He might be satisfied with that shoeshine boy who has accepted as an ideal to polish excellently the shoes of the first man who comes to him." You go, comprehending the shoeshine boy's idea, and ask yourself: "Is God interested in my shoes?" - No. He is interested in the shoesnine. The boy has an idea. He has polished your shoes as best he could, as best he understood.

Now, I will tell you how you must act in life as men of a high ideal. If a wife is making a shirt for her husband, and having been given money, buys any cloth and sews it carelessly, she is not a wife with a high ideal. No, she must roam the whole city over and find the best cloth, fine silk or strong linen and sew a shirt for him saying: "I will make a shirt for him myself that he will remember." Then she must put all her skill into the making of the shirt. This is a wife with a high ideal.

A man goes to buy cloth for his wife. He must not take some cotton print and say to himself: "Well,things are expensive nowadays, I will just eyewash her with that." That is not a husband. He must stroll over the whole town and find the most beautiful cloth - one without a flaw. This is an ideal within him! That day Nature will note down in her book that the wife and the husband have each one made the best choice. It is in their character to do so.

You want to chose a book for your fried. Then you choose the best book and give it to him as a gift so that he will remember you.

Somebody gives you her album to write something in it. You sit at the table and say to yourself: "Let me write something from Petko Slaveikov (great Bulgarian poet - 1827-1895): "Money, Money, you are the most powerful queen...!" - Thus you will go to the bottom of the cellar. This is no ideal! You must choose the best you know and write it so that when your friend reads it she will never forget it. You will write once but you must choose the best from your inner self. When you write thus, Nature will note in her book: "This child of mine will grow into a Man!"

You love somebody, don't you? This is also the law by which you can find out what kind of love yours is. Someone says: "I love my friend."All right, why? "Oh, he has such wonderful eyebrows, and his eyes!" This person understands not love. He has a low ideal. Someone else says: "Oh, if you could see the nose of my friend ...and his mouth, so beautiful!" All these people have low ideals.You must find inside your friend that quality which distinguishes him from the rest of the people, and you will say: "He has a quality which you can find in no one else. It is..." It is not an external quality.It is neither in his nose nor in his mouth. It is in the highest branches. And when you find it you will take it and keep it in your soul. You will write it in your memory and Nature will write again: "This child of mine shall become a Man."

You have a teacher and you say: "Our teacher is a very learned person. He is well acquainted with chemistry, astronomy, physics and all sciences." No, this is not your teacher. This is just a loaded camel. The thing that distinguishes your teacher is not those things. They are just ribbons, and where is the hat? Thus easily are the ideals distorted. The teacher says to his pupil: "You must take for yourself the best hat with no ribbon on it." She goes to the milliner who tells her: "Your teacher told you thus but a hat cannot be a hat without a ribbon. If we put just a small ribbon on it, it will look better." They put a ribbon on it. But there are other people in the shop and they say: "If you put a ribbon on the other side too, the hat will be prettier." She says: " All right, I think the teacher will be satisfied." Do you think that the hat became more valuable? - No, it lost all its value. I shall prove to you why it lost its value. Imagine that my teacher has given me a very beautiful pen which writes very well. A friend of mine comes along and says: "Do you know, I have a very precious stone as big as an egg, if we put it at the top of your pen it will become prettier." And he attaches it with a small chain. I continue to write. Another friend comes and says: "I have a diamond as big as a duck's egg, let us attach it to the pen,it will become prettier still." He attaches it too. I ask: "Do you think this writer could write well with all those precious stones on the pen?" - No. These are the foolish ideals of contemporary humanity. These are the foolish ideals of contemporary pupils. These are the foolish ideals of contemporary religious people, who do not understand the great Divine spark that must penetrate deeply into our souls. Sometimes you might say: "Oh, if somebody would give me a diamond!" Well, if I give somebody a diamond I must find the most beautiful diamond on earth. If I do not find it, I shall never hang a diamond around anybody's neck. Such must be your ideal too! The best in the world! Precisely in this, your inner choice, you will differ from all other people. Truth must be implanted in the heart of men!

Now do you understand where my through goes? Do you see now where the stream is flowing?

I have not spoken to you for a long time . This evening I decided and said unto myself: Tonight I shall talk to these disciples, I shall speak to them of the most beautiful, the best I can give them! If you have taken in the first ray that came forth from the Divine, true disciples and Men you will become. If you were late and you have not seen the first ray, I tell you something bitter: you will become the forgotten children at the bottom of the cellar.

The one who loves speaks of love, and the one who is afraid speaks of fear! Who wins in the world? The one who speaks about love, or who speaks about fear? The wise speak of wisdom, and the foolish - of commonplace things of the world. Who of these two wins? The wise builds up and the foolish wasted awey. "I", he says, "am used only to sing my name on the money order that Father sends me." And he always sings. There are persons whose whole life consists only in signing. They always sign for taking something. And when Nature sees that, she says: "This child will not grow into a Man. It has learned only to sign and never writes anything."

In conclusion, all higher beings, all those Brothers of the Great White Brotherhood have trodden this path. They all have high ideals. They all think thus. And when some of these Brothers decide to come down to earth, what do they say? - He will come down to the best person. And they describe who is the best one: he who has a longing, he who has an ideal, the highest ideal. To him will He come.The Master will come to the disciple whose soul vibrates, who thinks everyday of his Master. But what of the disciple who thinks about this and that? The Master will pass by his house and will say to himself: "Here is one of my forgotten pupils" and will go on. But when he passes by the house of the first pupil, he will say: "Here lives one of the pupils I must visit this evening."

This is the great ideal, the sublime ideal which you must all have: The most beautiful, the highest, the strongest, the best, the mightiest, the wisest, the most truthful, the most upright - everything of the highest quality! Take up this ideal and see how your life will be changed. But Application is necessary! You are downcast and say: "My heart is empty, there is no love in it. What shall I do?" Decide:"Tomorrow I shall go to meet the Sun, I shall try to catch the firs Sunray."

Have you observed when you wake up in the morning what your first thought is? Nature in this respect is very particular The moment a child wakes up she stops by with a thrill, she holds in her breath and listens attentively to hear what this child's first thought will be. If the moment you wake up your thought is directed toward God and you think of the great Love which overflows your soul with all blessings, she says: